Page 19 of A Very Happy Halloween

I yanked the door open. “What are you doing here?”

“You said to drop in for coffee if I was passing.”

“Oh, and you just happened to be passing first thing this morning?”

“Yeah.”

“Really?”

“I went out to get you breakfast, and on the way back, I was passing.”

“For goodness’ sake. It’s…” I checked my wrist, then remembered my watch was on the bedside table.

“It’s nearly ten o’clock,” he supplied.

Oh. “Yes, well, I was up half the night, uh…” I could hardly tell him I’d been picking apart his life on the internet, could I? “…uh, doing stuff.”

“You mean you were googling me?”

How did he know?

“Why on earth would you think that?”

“Because there are only two reasons you would have texted me at four thirty a.m.”

“Oh yeah? What’s the second one?”

“Last weekend, you weren’t as subtle as you thought you were when you checked out my junk.” Dammit! “I brought coffee as well. One black, one with all the froth and syrup and shit. Drink whichever you want, and I’ll have the other.”

“Eis, I’m still in my pyjamas.”

“You can take them off if you want. I don’t mind.”

I’d given him the tiniest of openings, and now he was kicking his way through my defences, Jackie Chan style. Kapow. I could probably still slam the door if I put my mind to it, but did I want to? Eis had haunted my dreams for years, and even though I’d wanted to hate him, deep down, I’d always hoped he had a good reason for doing what he did. That one night together, he’d looked after me. Been so freaking gentle. I’d confessed it was my first time, and his protective streak had been out in full force. He’d even made me pee in a bush afterwards so I didn’t get a UTI, which was a little embarrassing but also weirdly thoughtful, and then he’d dressed me tenderly and let me use his chest as a pillow while we watched the stars. Losing my virginity on a dirt floor in a nature reserve—it should have been a bit icky, but he’d made it almost romantic.

My first time with Steven, I’d gone to pee afterwards and found him snoring in bed when I got back. He didn’t even take off his socks.

As Eis walked past me, I poked him in the chest.

“If you ever hurt me again, I’ll chop off your balls while you sleep.”

“If I ever hurt you again, I’ll hand you the knife.”

Ten

“So, why do your friends call you Chip?”

I’d changed into leggings and a slouchy sweater, and now we were sitting in the kitchen with the scarred oak table the previous owner had left behind between us. I’d also combed my hair. Honestly, I was surprised Eis hadn’t left when he saw the bird’s nest on my head this morning, but he was still here, and he’d even wedged a fresh piece of cardboard under the wobbly table leg.

“You know I fought MMA?”

I nodded.

“Most fighters have a ring name.”

“You were Ironman.”

“Right. Because Eisen means ‘iron’ in German. But for my first fight, one of my buddies was commentating, and he thought it would be funny to introduce me as Raging Chipmunk.”

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